


Hidden Affection

by Bunzuku



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-06 15:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16390172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bunzuku/pseuds/Bunzuku
Summary: Sebastian thought that the Flower Dance would be the worst part of his day. Then he gets dragged into a conversation he wants no part of and brings up something he wanted to forget. It was then up to Sam to pick up the pieces.





	1. Chapter 1

No amount of complaining was going to get Sebastian out of dancing in that stupid meadow. That didn’t stop him from making his displeasure known, of course, but he was still stuck dancing until he got out of the valley and made it to the city.

It didn’t help his mood that Sam was running late. He couldn’t be surprised by that-- he knew how Sam was-- but it was still annoying.

In his own head, he could admit that he hated going for too long without his smile lighting up wherever they were. Without his upbeat personality keeping him from sinking too low into his own insecurities and anxiety.

They’d been friends for so long that Sam just seemed to know when he needed space or needed to get pushed out of his comfort zone, even though Sebastian complained the whole way.

Sebastian wasn’t an idiot. He knew what it meant when Sam suddenly appearing made his heart beat fast, even if he wasn’t feeling very surprised. It was obvious that Sam’s smile made his face warm for a reason.

It helped that this wasn’t a new development by any means. He’d figured out what these feelings were back when they were still in high school.

Even when getting bussed out to the city, he still stayed around Abigail and Sam, not really looking to make too many friends. So, he got to watch as Sam played the social butterfly, making friends with pretty much everyone and pretty much being unfailingly adorable.

The only time he’d managed to summon up enough courage to even attempt to do something about his feelings didn’t end well.

Since he was expecting to fuck it up horribly, he felt satisfied enough in trying that he could just pretend it didn’t happen and continue just being friends. He just needed to remind himself how badly he fucked up once to keep himself from trying again.

Good enough for him.

That didn’t make his mood any better at the Flower Dance, though. Even as Abigail tried to talk to him about how much better she’d gotten at Journey of the Prairie King, he kept an eye on the short bridge leading into the meadow. It helped him ignore her knowing looks whenever she realized what he was being distracted by.

Just as she was getting to her near-victory during her latest session, a timid voice spoke up nearby.

“I hate to interrupt,” Penny said, “but, well, I was wondering if you two would be willing to help us with something.” Sebastian noted that she really seemed to be the only one interested in the conversation.

Behind her, Alex and Haley were standing at enough of a distance that it was clear they weren’t  _ with _ Sebastian and Abigail. Maru was closer, but she seemed just as uncomfortable as he was at the prospect of talking. Whether it was the topic or his presence, he wasn’t sure. Even Vincent and Jas were there, and they looked annoyed, as if they were being dragged along against their wills.

If any of the others were asking, Sebastian wouldn’t have had a problem telling them off. However, with Penny staring up at him like that, he didn’t have the heart. They weren’t friends or anything, but being mean to Penny was like kicking a puppy. No one could be that cruel.

Fortunately, Abigail was much more willing to be social, so he picked up the slack. “What’d you need?” she asked, stepping up a little so Sebastian wasn’t the closest to the group.

Penny smiled warmly at that, as if she was expecting to be sent away immediately. “Well, you see, I’ve been teaching Vincent and Jas a lot about the kinds of things they’d learn in school. But one thing they haven’t gotten to really experience is socializing with other kids their ages. We were all lucky enough to have each other growing up, but they’re going to be going to a middle school in the city only being used to playing with each other. I was talking about that with Maru, and she suggested I ask everyone for some tips that might make talking to kids they don’t know easier.”

Sebastian had to bite his tongue to keep from asking why she thought he of all people would be of any use for that. His only friends were the two people he knew growing up, and they had both approached him. He knew she was just being nice by trying to include him, but just the idea of talking to so many people at once made him anxious.

“Well, that’s easy,” Abigail replied with confidence, “you just need to find something in common with whoever you want to make friends with. See if anyone likes the games you like, or whatever, and you’ll be friends in no time. Right, Seb?”

Sebastian could feel his eye twitch as the attention was suddenly shifted over to him. He knew she just wanted to see him squirm until he muttered some kind of agreement, then the others would get bored and that’d be it.

Unfortunately, Haley decided to pipe up at that moment. “Why would you be asking him? We’re not trying to teach them how to be basement-dwellers.”

“Yeah, I mean, no offence, but I don’t think they need pointers in how to go goth,” Alex added, “besides, making friends isn’t the important part of being in middle school. Getting dates is.”

“Guys, don’t you think they’re a little young…?” Maru tried to interject, but Haley and Alex were already getting distracted.

“I don’t even know if I could give them tips on that,” Haley said, haughtily, “everyone came to me because they knew exactly who was the most desirable bachelorette in school was. I guess I could give them a few tips on how to look their best, though.”

“Haley, please, this is important,” Penny begged.

“I’ll say it is,” Haley continued, completely undeterred, “Jas is going to need someone to explain just how to put on her makeup correctly pretty soon. If no one else is up to the task, it’ll have to be me.”

It was kind of hard to tell if she was genuinely trying to be helpful, or if she was just that dumb. Maybe Sebastian was a little biased. Just a bit.

Both Vincent and Jas just seemed bewildered by the conversation and more than a little eager to leave. He could definitely sympathize.

“Hey, I actually did need to do some work,” Alex said, “I was asking out tons of girls, and making sure the dates were going well.”

“Well of course,” Haley retorted, “that’s the boy’s job. You can help Vincent learn how to get dates while I help Jas.”

“Wait, guys don’t necessarily have to do the asking,” Maru cried, trying to keep at least some control over the situation as Penny just stared in horror at how quickly her intended lesson turned to chaos.

“They don’t  _ have _ to,” Haley agreed, “but they’re better off if they do. I mean, look at these two. Alex asked girls out, and he’s gone on tons of dates. But Sebastian? All he has is his laptop.”

Sebastian shouldn’t have taken the bait. He should’ve just let Haley’s words slide off of his back. But, for some reason, he found himself responding.

Just as Abigail looked ready to bite Haley’s head off-- and Maru opened her mouth as well, to say what, Sebastian wasn’t sure-- Sebastian snapped, “I’ve asked someone out before.”

That did it. Everyone turned to stare at Sebastian, some mix of shock and disbelief written on all of their faces. Even Abigail, which, rude.

“You did not!” Haley cried, excited for the new piece of gossip.

“You didn’t!” Abigail yelled, “not without telling me, at least!”

“You… what?!” Maru just seemed to be in utter shock.

“Seriously, dude? You expect us to believe that?” Alex just laughed.

Despite the obvious and simple out he was given, Sebastian had just enough pride to force him to speak up again. “I did! Well… not in person.”

“No! You didn’t write a love letter, did you?!” Haley was practically shrieking in joy at the news. As if his pathetic love life wasn’t sad enough.

“I did write a note,” he muttered, feeling the embarrassment of that moment washing over him all over again. This was why he’d never told anyone. Well, that and exactly what had caused the note to be a failure.

“You have to tell me what it said!” Haley insisted.

If it was just her, he probably would’ve refused without a second thought. She’d find some new gossip somewhere else and then he’d go on with his life. Unfortunately, he was surrounded. Not only was Abigail staring at him with a mix of both fury and curiosity, but the rest of the group (even Penny) seemed curious to hear his answer.

“It… it doesn’t matter what it said, it didn’t work,” he tried to deflect. He’d rather they talk about his inability to actually be a worthy partner than what he’d failed so long ago.

Of course, that wasn’t going to work. “Oh no, you’re not getting out of this one that easy,” Abigail said, “you’re going to tell me one way or another.”

“Probably just some emo poetry,” Alex scoffed.

“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Maru tried to sound positive.

“I didn’t even sign it,” Sebastian admitted, “I just… I panicked and I wrote the wrong thing.” No, no, that’d just get them more curious.

Even as he closed his own, he could feel everyone’s eyes on him. They were watching him for any mistakes, any signs of weakness to tear into. He could feel his breath becoming more shallow as the voices around him started to blur together in some incomprehensible mess.

He couldn’t tell the difference between Maru’s demands for Haley and Alex to lay off of him, or Penny’s soft, soothing voice. He had no idea that Abigail was trying to talk him down, or that Alex was telling him that it didn’t actually matter too much. Even Haley was trying to calm him down. Vincent and Jas’s confused worry was just gibberish to him.

That didn’t matter, though. All Sebastian could tell was that everyone was going to be there until he gave them what they wanted.

“I-I told him to get the hell out of my school!” he finally blurted.

Once again, the group were stunned. He didn’t even want to see how amused everyone must have looked in that moment.

For a second, he was worried he was going to have a panic attack or something, but what ended up happening, it was much worse.

“That was you?!” a much, much too familiar voice rang out.

He glanced in Sam’s direction, taking in the complete and utter shock on his friend’s face.

Right, well, that friendship was ruined. Sebastian did the only logical thing in that situation, turned and ran so fast that no one could even figure out what was happening before he left.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had expected to get some jokes made at his expense when he finally got to the festival. People were pretty used to him being late. In his defence, he’d just thought up an awesome new song, and he just had to write what he’d thought of down before he forgot.

He had actually been pretty excited to show his friends what he’d made, a grin threatening to split his face as he sprinted over.

The only thing that made him slow down was the strange sight of everyone else their age huddled into the corner that was usually just Sam, Sebastian and Abigail’s. Not just them, he could see Vincent and Jas standing there too. Poor kids looked pretty confused; he could sympathize.

Without thinking, he slowed himself down enough that no one noticed him approaching, which was probably for the best. He didn’t need them all to stare at his uncharacteristically upset face when Sebastian announced that he had told someone he liked them, once.

Partially, he was upset to hear that Sebastian had done something that brave without telling him about it. Did he not trust Sam to know or something? Or even Abigail? They were his friends.

Of course, that was the second problem: they were friends. It had taken a lot of time for Sam to realize that the warmth that seemed to spread throughout his body when Sebastian sent him the rare smile, or laughed, or showed off his keyboard skills or… a lot of times, wasn’t as platonic as he kind of hoped.

How the hell was he supposed to ask Sebastian out without probably ruining that friendship they had? Sure, Sam had other friends to hang out with, but none of them were as important to him as Sebastian and Abigail. He knew if he ruined what he had with Sebastian, Abigail would probably take Sebastian’s side, and that would be that. That’d probably be what would finally push them together, after they ignored their obvious feelings for so long.

Was Abigail the one he confessed to? If he kept it anonymous then maybe he was just scared of ruining their friendship just like Sam.

Even if it hurt, Sam knew he had to do what he could to get them together. If it made his friends happy, then he wouldn’t mind giving them a hand.

He was so lost in his own thoughts (planning the best way to push them together) that he almost missed Sebastian working himself up to a panic attack. Everyone was yelling so much that he knew it was only making it worse.

Before he could reach out and pull Sebastian away, however, Sebastian finally snapped, “I-I told him to get the hell out of my school!”

Sam could feel all of the air leave his lungs in surprise. He didn’t even need to think hard to remember that letter. At first, he’d been nervous, thinking someone was bullying him or something, but Sebastian had calmed him down by pointing out that it was pretty pathetic bullying, and Abigail promised to kick their ass if they tried anything more serious.

At the time, he hadn’t even wanted to know the source or their reason, but apparently, that was a mistake.

Everyone turned to look at him as he cried, “that was you?!” He could see the gears turning in all of their heads.

Maru was the one who realized what had happened first, and turned to Sebastian with a look of pity. That changed to surprise as Sebastian charged out of the field without even looking back at Sam, who was still too stunned to move.

“Oh no,” Penny muttered under her breath. Jas and Vincent almost immediately started demanding answers, and Sam didn’t envy Penny as she tried her best to give them reasonable ones.

Once Abigail managed to shake the shock away, she turned to Haley and Alex, furious. “Seriously?” she asked, “what the hell was any of that for?”

Alex had the decency to look sheepish as he muttered, “I didn’t think it was such a touchy subject.”

Haley tried to look unaffected, but her hesitant glances the bridge leading away betrayed how she really felt. “I thought he’d admit to liking  _ you _ . You two’ve been dancing around each other for years, maybe you just needed a little push.”

“Yeah, but who would’ve guessed,” Alex started to say, then shot Sam a pitying look.

Not that Sam could really appreciate the sympathy, he was too busy staring off into space, clearly stunned.

“You-I-me?!” Abigail finally managed, “you did  _ that _ just because you wanted to set us up?!”

“Well, yeah, why wouldn’t we?”

“We can handle our own love-lives, thank you! We tried going on a few dates a couple years ago, and we decided it wasn’t working!”

Apparently Sam was just going to learn all of the most surprising news today. What, was he going to learn that he was adopted? That they were secretly living on an alien base? That Lewis was having an affair? What else?

“You…? You dated?” he finally managed, “and didn’t… tell me?”

Abigail’s anger subsided slightly as she looked at Sam with pity, “yeah, we decided pretty quickly it wasn’t working, so we decided to just not bother.”

“So, wait, that me-” before he could get his mind back on track, he felt Maru’s hand on his wrist.

He normally wasn’t intimidated by her, but he could feel her dull nails getting very close to breaking skin. It was somehow more frightening than if she had sharp nails that were doing the same.

“Enough, you know where he’s going!” she exclaimed, causing Sam to blink owlishly back at her.

“Where…?”

“You saw his expression, right? Do you really want to leave him alone right now?”

Oh, right, Sebastian looked like he was about to pass out from the anxiety alone. He probably didn’t need to be on his own, especially since he was probably assuming some bad things about Sam’s reaction to the revelation.

“Abigail, you sh-” the hand on his wrist squeezed just enough to be painful, cutting Sam off again.

“Oh, no, you have to go. Either tell him you like him back, or prove your friendship isn’t going to be ruined by this. Otherwise, he’s just going to keep sinking until he hits rock bottom. Don’t bring him back, either. Even when you resolve this. He won’t be able to handle more people today.”

“B-but… Lewis?” he squeaked.

“My brother isn’t feeling well, I saw it myself. You think he’s going to argue with a nurse, much less me? Just. Go.”

With that, his arm was released, and one last glance at her determined face gave him enough courage to start running himself.

He had no idea what he was going to say when he got there, but he figured he could just wing it and they’d be fine.

Somehow.


	3. Chapter 3

The path to Sebastian’s house was familiar enough that even without sprinting like he was about to be murdered, it seemed to be over in a second for Sam.

It took all of his self-control to keep from bursting into Sebastian’s room as soon as he got there. While he really, really wanted to, he knew it would’ve just made things worse.

So, he made sure to be quiet as he walked down the stairs and opened the door, glancing around the room to get a handle on the situation.

For a second, he worried Sebastian hadn’t actually retreated to his room. He wasn’t anywhere Sam could see, until a tiny bit of movement managed to pull his attention over to the bed.

He couldn’t help but snort softly as he saw the blanket cocoon Sebastian had made for himself. As bad as he felt for him, it was a little too endearing to keep Sam’s smile off of his face.

Quietly, he tiptoed over to the Sebastian-shaped lump on the bed, listening for the sounds of a panic attack. Fortunately, it sounded like Sebastian was only winded from the run.

After a brief pause, Sam hurled himself onto Sebastian, causing a muffled squawk of surprise to echo through the room.

It didn’t take long for Sebastian’s affronted glare to be sent his way after he fought out of the blankets. All Sam did in response was grin back, widely as ever.

He hoped that it would calm Sebastian down to know he wasn’t mad, but almost immediately after he realized who it was, Sebastian’s glare turned into an anxious wince as he tried to burrow under Sam again.

“Hey, no,” Sam cried, launching forward to grab one of his hands. They stared each other down for a few seconds. Well, Sam stared, Sebastian tried to look anywhere else. There were words he had on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t force them past his lips. Eventually, he just muttered, “Maru promised to get Lewis off your back.”

That at least got Sebastian to look at him. Specifically, stare in confusion. “What?”

“I mean, you did kind of bail on the dance,” Sam replied with a laugh, “pretty sure I saw Lewis turn more purple than you when he realized.”

The confusion wasn’t clearing, and Sam was feeling a little uncomfortable under the scrutiny. Apparently, Sam’s squirming was enough to snap Sebastian out of it.

“That’s it? You find out…  _ that _ and all you’re worried about is if I get in trouble with Lewis?”

“Well… I… I wasn’t really sure if you wanted to talk about it yet.” Sam could feel Sebastian’s annoyance as he recognized the lie for what it was. He was bad enough at lying to most people, but his friends were even better at seeing through him.

“Look, if you wanted to tell me you don’t feel the same or whatever, don’t bother,” Sebastian muttered, looking away again, “I figured it was stupid anyway. Don’t even know why I thought a good letter would’ve… y’know. Much less that crap.”

If there was one thing that Sam hated, it was hearing that tone in Sebastian’s voice. That defeated, anxious, self-loathing tone. There were a lot of things that that tone made Sam want to do to cheer up his friend, but he really could only try and talk him down.

“Hey, I-I’m not, like, mad or anything,” he stuttered, “it’s not like you did anything wrong. Honestly, it was pretty brave.”

“Brave,” Sebastian repeated, scornfully, “me chickening out and telling you to get out of my school was brave?”

“Hey, at least you tried to do something about your crush. Every time I even think of saying something, I just blurt out something stupid.”

A lot of awkward moments flashed in front of Sam’s eyes. Like that time he wanted to compliment Sebastian on dyeing his hair, and ended up saying, “you coordinate your colors well,” while pointing at his hoodie.

He was pretty sure he had heard Haley mention something about color coordination.

There was also the day he’d convinced Sebastian to help stick Morris’s underwear to the Joja Corp. sign and they’d both gotten a few hours of community service.

He had wanted to say, “at least we’re not doing it alone,” or, if he was going to be really bold, “there’s no one I’d rather waste my free time with,” but what he eventually settled on was, “well, there are worse people to be working with.”

It wasn’t a lie, but they’d spent the rest of their mandatory service hours joking about how everyone else would’ve reacted to Sam’s suggestion, instead of confessing the mutual feelings.

And, of course, there was right at the moment when Sebastian had basically screamed at him that his feelings were returned. When there was basically no way he could be rejected, and he still couldn’t just say it. He could pretend he was more concerned about his friend’s mental health, but he knew he was just being a wimp.

He was so caught up in the memories, that he almost missed the pained look on Sebastian’s face.

“I’d rather just pretend these feelings didn’t exist,” he said, “not like anything good came out of that whole… thing.”

“No, wait, that’s not, I didn’t mean.” Sam winced as he realized how it probably sounded. Talking about Sebastian in the third person was just rubbing it in his face in a pretty mean way.

Still, the words wouldn’t come. Sam’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he realized they weren’t going to at all.

There was only one thing left to do.

With way more confidence than was probably appropriate for the situation, he grabbed Sebastian’s face with both hands, just to make sure he couldn’t look away again. Then, he leaned in to bring their lips together.

He tried, anyway.

Their heads made a soft thud as Sam smashed his forehead against Sebastian’s. They both recoiled with a yelp, Sebastian rubbing at the sore spot with annoyance and confusion.

“Seriously?” he yelled, “I tell you to just forget about it, and you decide to  _ headbutt me _ ?!”

“Ah, that… I didn’t mean to do that!” Sam cried, arms starting to flail about.

With a groan, Sebastian let his hands fall back into his lap and glared back up at Sam. “Look, whatever you wanted to do, could it wait until tomorrow? I’m really not feeling up to decoding what’s going on in your head today.”

“But, I! You! This isn’t!” Sam could only sputter inelegantly as Sebastian tried to push him off of the bed. More and more panic was welling up in his throat as he tried to force himself to confess. He had a feeling if Sebastian managed to kick him out, he’d miss his only shot.

It took a bit of wrestling, but suddenly, Sebastian was lying back on the bed, as Sam loomed over him, pinning his arms down. While Sam was too determined to be distracted, Sebastian couldn’t help but lose a bit of focus.

Of course, even the position they were in didn’t distract him from Sam blurting out, “I-I like you too, idiot!”

A soft, almost broken, “you… what?” escaped Sebastian before he could stop himself.

It managed to relax Sam slightly. He sighed and nodded, saying, “I have for a long time. You’re… you’re really cool, you know? I know you’ve got all this anxiety and stuff, but you don’t actually let it stop you from hanging out with people, like at festivals and stuff. And you pretty much taught yourself how to code. That’s… you know. Cool. And! And, you have, um. Nice. Eyes.”

Said eyes were practically boring into Sam’s head as he continued to ramble, until Sebastian finally covered his mouth with his hand.

“Are you saying, that you don’t hate me for this?” All he got in response was a nod.

“And that headbutt was, what, a kiss?” A more sheepish nod.

“Are you… asking me out?”

There was a pause as Sam tried to force his breathing to calm down. Then he nodded so fast Sebastian’s hand got knocked away.

“Okay then.” Sebastian muttered.

“That’s it?” Sam laughed.

“Shut up, at least I’m not the one committing assault here.” Despite his words, Sam could see the smile Sebastian was trying to fight down.

“I got excited,” he defended with a chuckle.

“Well, maybe next time you should work on kissing without also attacking.”

“Next… next time?” Sam repeated, hope filling his voice.

He watched, almost enraptured as a blush started to work its way onto Sebastian’s cheeks. “Didn’t we just admit we both liked each other? Isn’t… y’know. Kissing, part of that?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure if you wanted to risk getting assaulted again,” Sam said, grinning.

“Maybe I just shouldn’t leave it to you.”

Before Sam could ask what he meant, he felt Sebastian’s fingers gripping his chin gently, but firmly.

Given their position on the bed, it wasn’t hard for him to tug Sam’s head down closer. Before they repeated the earlier mistake, Sebastian made sure to angle Sam’s head just right, then pulled him the rest of the way.

It was fairly chaste, all things considered. Neither boy knew how to do much other than press their lips together, but after years of pining after one another, it felt perfect to them.

Besides, there was always next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When they see Abigail the next day, she smacks them both in the head for waiting years to get their acts together.
> 
> If you've got more ideas for me to write, come give me prompts on my [tumblr ](https://bunzuku.tumblr.com/)


End file.
